(Image copyright Tor Books, image credit)
It is John Scalzi’s fault. (I bet he hears that a lot)
Six years ago, almost to the day, John Scalzi reignited what I didn’t even realize was a flagging passion for science fiction with his novel Old Man’s War. Science Fiction is my first love but I hadn’t consciously noticed that most of the time I spent with her was in revisiting novels I cherished from my youth and or classics from the past–both admirable ways to spend my reading time. I rarely took any forays into the works of contemporary authors. Old Man’s War made me feel that nervous-energy, can’t-wait-to-get-home-and-read feeling that science fiction did in my younger years. It was sense-of-wonder done 21st century style and it has influenced my reading since that day. The sequels were all equally exciting to me.
And the Tor Art Department choosing heart-stopping covers by artist John Harris was icing on the cake.
Well, they’ve done it again.
Lifting heavily from this post on John Scalzi’s website (while encouraging you to go over there because there is more mouth-watering, non-spoilery goodness to be had):
*The book is arranged into thirteen “episodes,” which is the name we’re giving to the single-serving, self-contained (but interrelated) stories[ed: it is set in the Old Man’s War universe for those who were not aware].
*It’s arranged that way because starting in December, we’re selling each episode electronically, one a week, for, you guessed it, thirteen weeks. All the electronic episodes will be DRM-free, in keeping with Tor’s company-wide DRM policy. Also, Tor has the worldwide English rights to The Human Division, so the episodes should be available across the entire planet, same day and date as North American release.
*It will also be available as a stand-alone hardcover book in May, 2013.
*And yes, there will be an audio version, from Audible. My understanding is that they will also be doing the book in episodes, concurrent to the electronic episode release schedule.
John goes on to state that:
*The events in The Human Division take place after the events of The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale.
*The Human Division features some characters who have appeared in the Old Man’s War universe before, but also features a raft of brand new characters (before anyone asks, John Perry, Jane Sagan and Zoe Boutin-Perry are not players in the book. The Old Man’s War universe is bigger than just those three characters). Most episodes feature a recurring set of characters, but there are exceptions.
I don’t know about you but I am very excited about this! Being a fossil-at-heart when it comes to ebooks I had earlier declared that I would just be waiting for this to come out in print format before reading it. But I won’t be able to wait. I will assuredly post again regarding this when the first episode is our for general consumption.
I will be buying a print version when it comes out. And I could give Tor’s art department a wet, sloppy kiss on the mouth for the stunning John Harris cover they commissioned (or perhaps a round of drinks at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 2 would be more welcome?).
But I will also be jumping on board for the weekly releases. This sounds like so much fun that I want to be a part of the releases as they happen. And what could be a better Christmas present than a thirteen week vacation in one of my favorite fictional universes?
Time to fire my Kindle back up. Bring on the eggnog!
LOL ! and to think he used to help me with “journal problems” back in the days when he worked for aol ! He’s come a looooong way, and I congratulate him!
Yes he has! And his talents are being put to much better use. 🙂
without a doubt!! nice to know that sometimes the good guy wins!
I couldn’t agree more, Pat.
I won’t be doing the 13 episodes, though I do have a Kindle device I don’t know what format these e-shorts will be. Regardless, I’ll be waiting for the HC or even the following trade edition. I’m dying to read it, but I’m just an old fashioned soft page guy. Wonderful cover!
They are DRM free so they should work across all platforms. I do love the soft pages too (hence the fact that I’ve only read one book on the Kindle since winning it MANY months ago), but I’m going to dive right in with this one and I cannot wait to hold that hardcover in my hand. I can feel the raised title lettering already.
Another GREAT John Harris cover.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I will have a tablet/e-reader by then if not I know I will be picking up the hardcover in the Spring. I’m can’t wait for some Scalzi sci-fi again.
I hope you do so we can read these together.
I love the orange background as part of Harris’ painting. The whole thing just glows, though part of that is just my excitement.
I love the art work on the cover. It is amazing. Thanks for the review. I am not familiar with this author, but I can’t wait to read this book. I just finished another great book called, “The Gyre Mission: Journey to the *sshole of the World” by author Edgar Swamp. This a futuristic fiction novel written in a satire tone about an a group of mutants living on Garbage island after an environmental disaster.
http://www.edgarswamp.com/
I feel your excitement Carl. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! And I’ll be over for some eggnog. Funny, the other day I was thinking of picking up some–I like to celebrate early 😉
Perfect, I’ll pull up a chair next to our faux fire and we’ll share some Yuletide spirit. Or spirits, 😉
Yes, I’m really looking forward to this one.
I love TOR. they actually LISTEN to readers, who want DRM-free files, who want electronic stuff to eventually be available in print, they publish buckets of free short fiction on their website.
Scalzi and Tor. match made in SciFi heaven.
and one of these days, I will read (and actually finish!!) Old Man’s War, I swear. actually Carl, the best way to get me to pick it up would be to guilt me into a read-along, *hint hint*.
They really are a fantastic company. Irene Gallo, their Art Director, is a personal favorite. She’s got the most amazing job and she is a really nice person to fanboys like me.
That might not be a bad idea for a read along, Andrea! Especially with the upcoming Science Fiction Experience. I do hope you are doing your Vintage SF event at the same time as I have some great vintage stuff I want to read for it.
January will forever be Vintage month for me. 😀
maybe could do a Scalzi read along at beginning of February?
That just might work! Glad you are doing vintage month again.
I still haven’t read Old Man’s War but have heard only great things. I love what they’re doing with this book, releasing episodes everywhere. I hate when I get excited about a new book and then can’t download it because I live in Europe!
Yes, Tor is doing some great stuff in that regard. And why everyone doesn’t do it that way is beyond me. Publishers survive by making sales, you would think they would want to get the books into the hands of as many people as possible, as soon as possible, in a format they can access it in.
Hey stranger!
I’m looking forward to this too, though I may have to wait for print as just enjoy the experience more. Love the cover too. Tor is one of the most consistant publishers of putting out high quality novels with amazing cover art. (No, I’m not getting paid to say that.)
🙂
How is it going?!?! I agree, Tor is one of the best when it comes to matching good cover art with good stories. And I’m not getting paid either, but maybe we can convince them of our worth, lol! I wouldn’t mind getting paid to run around telling the truth all day.
Carl, thanks for the heads up! I’m in for the episodes. I read the whole Old Man’s War saga this year (yeah, just this year), so reading the first episodes of The Human Division will be a great way to finish the year, and a great beginning to the new one. 🙂
I will take it that you’ve enjoyed them then? Great to know! Such fun books. This will be a nice bookend for you to get more of the Old Man’s War universe to end the year.
great post; thanks for the link and the info. very Christmas-y indeed.
Tor impresses me with their electronic presence and ability to whet the fan base’s appetite for great prints. And it doesn’t hurt that they have an enviable list of authors who can write such entertaining blog posts. well, for that matter, an enviable list of fans to spread the word and rev up the excitement, too.
Yes, they have long been one of my favorite if not THE favorite publisher for SFF. And as much as we go through these periods where people are bewailing the death of publishing, there are some great publishers out there right now. Tor raises a high bar but I think publishers like Pyr and Nightshade and smaller publishers like Subterranean Press are doing some great stuff.
I’m with Andrea: TOR is my favorite Big Publisher. THE HUMAN DIVISION goes on the ORDER REAL SOON list. Like you, OLD MAN’S WAR spoke to that “Sense of Wonder” that too many contemporary SF works lack. Love the cover!
I’m so glad to hear that you felt the same way about it George. It always feels nice when other share one’s passions.
Isn’t that a fantastic cover? I would so love to have a John Harris original. His work is amazing.
I’m a big fan of John Harris, too, Carl. Twenty years ago, I loved Chris Foss’s work. John Harris is working in the same kind of SF artwork genre although Harris seems to have some Richard Powers influences thrown into his covers, too.
One of the things I like about Harris work, and also Berkey’s (two incredible John’s) is that their work has an almost abstract quality when you see close ups of it but somehow they manage to create these detailed images that have a sense of movement to them. Met a guy at the Spectrum Fantastic Art Live event this past May who is a HUGE Harris fan and is doing work that is an homage to his. When we were talking with him we found out that he owns a few Harris originals. I wish he had brought them with him, I’d love to see an original close up. And Powers! Wow, Powers is another amazing artist. His work is so different than what I normally like and yet it stirs my imagination.
John Harris needs to publish another collection of his artwork. I bought the book of cover art he published about seven years ago. He’s overdue!
Yes, he really does. I’d snatch up a copy in a heartbeat.
What a neat idea for a book release!
I FINALLY got Redshirts from the library (I’ve been on the hold-list since…whenever you reviewed it, which I’m guessing is 2-3 months) and it’s next on my list. If I like it, I’ll have to look into more Scalzi!
Wow, that was a long wait. It will be interesting to see what you think of it. I enjoyed it just fine but it is by far my least favorite Scalzi novel of the ones I’ve read (which is all but two, I believe: Agent to the Stars and The God Engine).
I usually love TOR covers. they are usually a win for me, regardless of the author or if I’ll like the story. Is TOR’s art director Irene Gallo? is that right? I wonder if having a single vision at the helm makes for a more cohesive TOR package. Like, DAW, it seems to me is all over the place, where they used to be very singular, very uh, branded I guess. You could recognize a DAW from a mile off until about 2005 (and not just the yellow spines of yore). Now they’ve got some really bizarre covers.
You answered my question about Irene Gallo above, apologies!
No need to apologize, and yes, as you figured out, Irene Gallo is the art director for Tor and she does a marvelous job. I certainly think having someone with a wide variety of likes but actual artistic taste helps, as does the company’s commitment to bringing the work of good artists to their books.